Buying a domain and website is one of the biggest tasks when opening a local business. It can be a tough task as most of the .com’s website domains have been taken. I highly recommend purchasing one ending in com if you can find one to purchase. The reason for this is that most people associate with this high-level domain. I have several times typed in com only to realize that it was supposed to end in net, org, or some other of the numerous endings now.
Tips on buying your business’s domain name:
- Make it easy to type (Slang and hyphens can be hard to type. Avoid numbers also as they can be confusing)
- Keep it as short as possible (Less than 15 characters, preferably)
- Use Keywords (If you’re a bakery, try putting bakery in your main domain. Just don’t keyword stuff! It is better to go without keywords than trying to force them.)
- Target your location (If your business is local, try putting your city or state name in the website domain)
- Be easy to remember
- Check the name to make sure it’s not trademarked or copyrighted by another company
- Try to use the name extension .com
- Try to protect your domain brand name by buying the different extensions and spelling
- Don’t wait too long as domains come and go quickly
what’s a website domain? Or also known as a web domain or an internet domain.
The simplest way to explain a website domain is the address at which a website is located. A domain name will be translated into an IP. IP stands for Internet Protocol. The IP address will be associated with a server. On the server resides the website. Servers can be located around the world. For a small business, it is recommended your hosting server resides in the same country as your business.
How do you register a domain?
Don’t rush to register at any company. Remember, many times after registering, most companies will charge you for extras.
First, remember that when buying your fully managed hosting, they usually allow you one free domain. Another great way to purchase domains is from Google Domains (https://domains.google). Google Domains gives you Private Registration for free. Where almost all other providers like Godaddy and Namecheap charge extra. Don’t be fooled by their low introductory rates. Also, private registration I do not recommend, especially for small local businesses.
Purchase your web domain for the main website from your hosting provider it will make it easier to set up your business website. Especially for those businesses wanting to build their own websites. For any other name variations of your main domain, the best domain name registrar Ignited Biz uses is Google Domains.
What happens if the domain I want is not available?
You can use whois to look up the domain owner. Then offer to purchase it. The problem with this is greed. There are a lot of domain squatters out there, hoping you’ll pay them a fortune for the domain name.
One way around domain names being taken is using your location. I would highly suggest putting it in your city or state location for local businesses. For instance, if you own Joe’s Pizza and joespizza.com is taken, and you live in Kansas City. You could put JoespizzaKC.com, or JoespizzaKansasCity.com. Do keep in mind the last one is getting a little too long. Hopefully, this will allow you to start thinking of ideas. The negative about using a location is if you have more sore openings or set up a franchise.
Get a website domain today. Put up an under-construction page and start building. Setting up a business website correctly takes many weeks of dedication. Google has gotten smarter over the years, and the slapping up of content thin sites that aren’t properly updated won’t rank well anymore.